Having weathered difficult days, she finds herself armed and dangerous on screen, and charmed and loved everywhere else

On meeting husband, Jim Toth, at a friend's house: "It happened out of the blue. This really drunk guy was hitting on me, making such an idiot of himself, yelling at me. He was like, [slurring, scowling, pointing finger in her face] `You don't know me.' And I was like, `Yeah, I know. I don't know you!' Jim came over and said, `Please excuse my friend. He's just broken up with someone.' Jim was a really good friend, pulling him out of that situation. That's just kind of who he is, a really good person."

Reese Witherspoon Unbound

Reese Witherspoon Unbound

On thinking she wouldn't marry again: "Jim said, `I'm gonna show you every day what a good partner is, what a good person is. I'm going to take care of you. I'm gonna do this so much that you're gonna get used to it.' I was like, `What are you talking about?' I've never had anybody like that in my life."